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The advisory committee on Antimicrobial Prescribing, Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (APRHAI) meets quarterly to share information and progress; providing practical and scientific advice to the UK Government on minimising the risk of healthcare associated infections. Scotland is represented on this group which also includes representatives from The Department for Health and Social Care, Public Health England, Public Health Wales and The Institute of Public Health in Ireland and the 4 UK nations are in regular contact with each other and are working collaboratively.

The Scottish Government is committed to developing an adversity and trauma-informed workforce across Scotland. To support this, we are investing £1.35 million over three years to create a national training programme, to support over 5000 frontline workers across all sectors of the Scottish workforce who are responding to psychological trauma. The programme of work will be led by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and informed by people with lived experience, to create and deliver quality training resources. The impact of trauma on children and young people is integral within Health Visiting and School Nursing education; including both theory and practice-based learning. With regard to Looked After Children’s (LAC) Nurses, some LAC nurses undertake relevant standalone modules on, for example, Childhood Development, Child Protection and Safeguarding, and Vulnerability. As part of their eight year training programme, paediatricians learn to diagnose, treat and safeguard children and young people, including the potential impact of abuse and neglect. In addition, trainee paediatricians should complete regular safeguard training courses. The NES Psychology Trauma Team have also recently provided a workshop and presentation to paediatricians on trauma-informed working.

The proportion of hospital admissions that were followed by a readmission within 28 days, for each NHS Board of Treatment in each quarter from 2013-14 to 2017-18, is presented in an Excel file, paper c opies of which are available from SPICe Bib. number 60608. Readmissions are based on emergency readmissions within 28 days from previous discharge date to subsequent admission date. The proportion (percentage) of admissions which were followed by a readmission within 28 days is calculated by dividing the count of readmissions within 28 days by the count of all admissions for each NHS Board of Treatment in each quarter then multiplying by 100 to get the percentage. SMR01 completeness varies across health boards. See link below for further information on SMR data completeness: http://www.isdscotland.org/products-and-Services/Data-Support-and-Monitoring/SMR-Completeness/ .

The Scottish Government commission Health Protection Scotland (HPS) to horizon scan for emerging threats associated with new and unusual fungal infections as well as antimicrobial resistance. They collect accurate and timely data, which underpins all of their activities in protecting the nation’s health.

Information is provided to HPS through an extensive surveillance network, which includes NHS boards, hospitals and laboratories. HPS also capture lab results via the Electronic Communication of Surveillance in Scotland tool that is used to monitor organisms, infections and microbial intoxications that are of clinical or public health importance.

Finally, the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual also provides health boards with a nationally agreed list of alert organisms, which may require further investigation if detected as part of their mandatory surveillance.

Health Protection Scotland are not aware of any reported cases of Candida Auris in Scotland.

Ministers approved the establishment of the single Scottish Neonatal network managed by NHS National Services Scotland in October 2018 and the network will be operational from 29 April. The process to establish the single Scottish maternity network is currently underway and we expect this to be launched in late 2019 - early 2020. The networks will be led by steering groups representing a range of relevant professional and other stakeholders.

The Scottish Government recognises that funding will be required to support the transformation of maternity and neonatal services beyond 2019-2020. Discussions with stakeholders to understand their requirements to continue to deliver the models of care proposed in the Best Start are underway.

As part of the programme of implementation for The Best Start, the Scottish Government has established a Workforce and Education Group to consider a suite of recommendations relating to the training requirements to support the new models of care recommended in the Best Start. The work of the group has focused mainly on working with NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and our Early Adopter Boards to understand the training required to introduce the new continuity of carer model of care. NES has designed a training package to support this and is rolling this out across Scotland, with many courses already available and others coming on stream through the first half of 2019.

The Scottish Government is investing £12m in the Best Start over the first two years of implementation (2018-19 and 2019-20).

Catering services within the Scottish Parliament do use processed meats that include nitrites. Nitrites are additives used to protect the meats from harmful bacteria as well as improve the appearance and taste of the meat. Strict legislation ensures nitrite additives are kept at their lowest possible level to carry out their function.   We regularly review our food policy and we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of food safety. While we offer a small amount of processed meats, around 1.2% of all perishable foods, we recommend that all our customers enjoy a balanced and healthy diet, that is limited in processed meats.